Cartridge for blasting with liquid air and process of producing the same



UNITED STATES urausman PATENT OFFICE.

AMBROSE KOWAS'ICI-I, OF BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG, GERMANY.

CARTRIDGE FOR BLASTING- WITH LIQUID AIR AND PROCESS OF PRODUCING THE SAME.

No Drawing.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, AMBROSE KoWAsroH, of Berlin-Charlottenburg, Leibnizstr. 7 8, Germany, have invented a certain new and useful Cartridge for Blasting with Liquid Air and Processes of Producing the Same (for which I have filed an application in Germany, March 20, 1916), of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to cartridges for blasting with liquefied gases and a method of producing the same.

Up to the present, the different components or ingredients of the cartridges become agglomerated or stick too closely together and, in consequence, it is impossible to sufficiently saturate the finely divided materials, such as soot, or infusorial earth with liquefied gases. By piling the cartridges in layers, by packing them, and storing them the components of the cartridges become compressed and form a hard, crusty mass, thereby impairing and diminishing their porosity and absorption to such degree that the cartridges become useless. The above difliculties are obviated in the cartridge forming the subject matter of the present inventlon peat being employed as a component part of the cartridge. Moreover, in order to insure that the ignition is transmitted from one cartridge to another, 36% of finely powdered cork or cork dust may be added. However, when such a percentage of cork dust is added, it is not absolutely essential to employ peat as the chief ingredient since the addition of 35% of cork dust to soot cartridges will have increased their explosive power considerably. As insignificant as this admixture may appear it displays however a remarkable power of transmitting the ignition. A mixture of 50% of cork and 50% of soot, though soaked or saturated with liquid oxygen, exhibits no transmitting power for ignition at all, shows very little velocity of detonation, and thus possesses inherent properties that a good explosive must not have. These drawbacks are completely removed by admixing a small quantity of cork dust of above 5%, so that the distance of transmission will amount to about 7 to 8 centimeters. Cartridges consisting of other compounds have a similar behavior, so that by adding small quantities of cork dust the explosives in question will alSO obtain the property of a good trans- Specification of Iletters Patent.

Patented Aug. 1, 1922.

mission of ignition or detonation. It is also very difiicult to detonate cartridges consisting for example exclusively of soot with a powerful fuse or ignitor when lying freely. However, the admixture of from 36% of powdered cork dust increases the detonating or igniting power of the soot cartridges to such an extent that, when three soot-cartridges are placed one behind another, at distances of five centimeters from each other and the first cartridge is ignited, the detonation is transmitted to the two others in sequence the ignition being thus conveyed across the free space or air-gap between the single cartridges without the slightest check or hitch. The same principle applies of course to cartridges made of other components, as for instance cartridges consisting of 30% of soot and of 70% of salt, which, without powdered cork dust when lying freely cannot, even with a powerful fuse or ignitor be thoroughly relied upon to explode, but on the contrary, show a strong inclination to combustion by bursting into flames. However, by the admixture of powdered cork dust mentioned above, that is from 3 to 5% being added to the other components in the cartridge the high explosive power increases to such an extent that the cartridges may be placed some centimeters apart, and yet, in spite of the intervening space, the explosion, on igniting the first cartridge, will be faultlessly transmitted to the next one. Instead of cork dust, a carboniferous substance or carbon carrier of a similar kind may be chosen.

In the place of cork dust the bark of trees ground to fine powder, which will answer the same purpose, may be employed.

Peat properly and suitably prepared is in no way inferior to cork as far as capability of absorption, porosity and blasting power are concerned. Also compared to saw dust or wood ground to dust, peat is more porous, much lighter, and can be triturated or ground to a much finer powder. Sawdust is tough and retains in its cells substances that diminish the absorbing power. Peat is less tough, is of a stringy or fibrous texture and possesses empty cells which, as comparative experiments and the tests have shown, absorb a quantity of liquid oxygen whose weight is many times greater than that of the peat itself. Sawdust does not possess the high absorptive power. Peat may also be employed in highly explosive cartridges intended to be safe in fire-damp.

It is advantageous to grindthe peat down to the finest powder, and remove moisture by a thorough drying process or desiccation. The manifold actual conditions that prevail in mines, and pits where blasting operations take place, made it necessary to devise means of allowing a regulation of the durability and blasting power of cartridges. In order to obtain a pushing, shoving or sliding effect like that produced by blasting saltpeter it is very advantageous to employ charred peat or peat coke. When such coke is obtained from exceedingly light material, and these materials are converted into coke at a temperature that lies beyond the limits of sintering or fusing the coke is a product which has high absorbing properties, can be subjected to higher temperatures and also displays a greater explosive power than in the case where ordinary peat alone or an admixture of peat is used. The charred or peat coke prepared and obtained in such a way, is ground to a fine powder and in this condition it absorbs about fivefold of its own weight in liquid oxygen.

In order to increase the bursting effect it is also of great advantage to add hydrocarbons to the components of cartridges containing peat or peat coke.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a cartridge for blasting with a liquefied gas, the combination of peat with the usual components of the cartridge.

2. In a cartridge adapted for explosion with the aid of a liquefied gas, the combination with the usual components of the cartridge of a filler composed of comminuted eat. p 3. In a cartridge a-dapted for explosion with the aid of ailiqufied gas, the combination with the usual componentsof the cartridge of charred peat.

4. In a cartridge adapted for explosion with the aid of a liquefied gas, the combination with the usual components of the cartridge of comminuted peat and of finely powdered cork.

5. In a cartridge for explosion with aid of a liquefied gas, the combination with the usual components of the cartridge of finely powdered peat and of a hydrocarbon.

6. The hereinbefore described method of producing cartridges for blasting with a liquified gas, which consists in adding to the usual components of the cartridge peat ground to a fine powder and thoroughly desiccated.

7. The hereinbefore described method of producing cartridges for blasting with a liquefied gas, which consists in adding to the other components of the cartridge finely ground peat and a hydrocarbon, and thoroughly mixing together all elements of the cartridge.

8. The hereinbefore described method of producing cartridge for blasting with a liquefied gas, which consists in adding to the other components of the cartridge charred peat and intimately intermixing all elements of the cartridge.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AMBROSE KOIVASTCH.

Witnesses:

PETER Mnrrnn'r, FRITZ SUNDERUNG. 

